Comments on Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

I was having similar thoughts today. If something is going to happen, I really want it to happen soon, because even though it might not actually improve things, at least we’ll know where we’re at and a lot of the speculation and hype will be put to rest.

Correct me if I’m wrong here Don, but what exactly has Cashman ever done right? David Justice, A-Rod, Sturtz and Gordon do not even come close to what has blown up on him. Since everyone here is pretty big baseball fans, I don’t need to point out all Cashmans shortcomings (they’re pretty obvious to everyone), but if this Yankee team is looking to him to fix anything, it’s going to be a long three months. You know what takes the cake here? Cashman has been given Fort Knox to build a team, and he’s made all the obvious moves that basically any normal housewife who picks up a paper and reads stats would make. Giambi, Brown, Vazquez, Jared Wright….the list goes on. Now what? He’s going to go spend more money to try to fix it….how. My guess would be the obvious moves, that again, my wife would figure out: Zito, which in return NY has to give up a pretty good package, and run the risk of not keeping him next year. Adam Dunn – great another power hitter to offset terrible pitching. When is there going to be a good move by him? When is there going to be a trade that brings good, YOUNG talent into the organization. No Don, Cashman is not the answer to NY’s problems. Johnson is no longer pitching in the NL West where Shawn Green was the feared hitter of the week, Pavano is not even a .500 lifetime pitcher and in my opinion only was signed to keep him from going to Boston (ala Jose Contreras – you think someone would learn), and Kevin Brown is too bad, err, old to ever pitch in this league. What does anyone suggest here? AL hitters are not intimidated by any of these three, and as far as Pavano and Brown are concerned – they look forward to hitting these two! At the end of this year, NY could have a 75mil dollar starting rotation (thats with Zito and another unnamed acquisition) just to be able to compete! 75mil to compete!! If one was to add the salary of the bullpen and Mariano, it adds up to over 100mil for a complete pitching disaster. Not that the money is the big point here, its the principle. How is it that other teams see the young talent and he does not? Why is it that players like John Garland, Bronson Arroyo, and others were not even bargained for. No, Cashman is def not the answer to anything!

Does the Yankees scouting suck? Like Brad pointed out about Arroyo…this guy was picked up for the clearance bin and is producing better than the majority of our staff. That’s just one example of course but you’d think they’d do more scouting instead of picking up old free agents or guys who had one good season.

And you conveniently forget the impact of the Tampa crowd, also 100% GS nonsense. This is just like the 1980’s – early 1990’s when Tampa (read GS) basically ran the team. Then GS was banned and nirvana.

Was it Cashman’s fault Vasquez suddenly forgot how to pitch?

No, Cashman has made mistakes, but Arroyo? That’s way hindsight.

Brown was traded for Weaver, or have you forgotten? The only way (sadly) that they could trade that surfer boy, who got the NY jitters when the Yanks obtained him from Detroit. Yeah, Cashman was wrong on the Weaver deal, but it didn’t look like that way when they made the trade with the Tigers.

John Garland? Was he a FA? With a 4.89 ERA in 2004? More hits then IP in 2004? Career ERA prior to 2005 of around 4.60? You’ve lost me on that one.

Don, with all due respect, part of scouting player is seeing what may be possible. Had good scouts looked at Arroyo, Garland, and many others, they would have seen the potential. Why would NY not get into the Derek Lowe bargain? When Stick and Buck ran the show, you can bet that those guys would not have went unnoticed. Please stop making excues for this shit! Not being able to actually scout the young talent is the reason we have the problems we do. Arroyo and Clement, and Miller have the potential to be in Boston with Foulke and probably Wakefield (who will pitch until he’s 45!) for several more years, and theres a good chance they will at least maintain. Theo and Co saw things in Miller, Clement and Arroyo that Cash did not even bother looking for, and now it’s showing! They, and your opinion, pretty much suck. If Cashman is nothing more than a Yes man for GS, do you give him more credit? I say if all you are is lifeboat GM, and you don’t speak your mind on the issues, then you deserve the blame that gets passed onto you.

Brad, you’ve lost me (and I’m sure everyone else) with this Garland thing. Was he even a FA? And he had a 4.89 ERA in 2004, doesn’t that sink in? And more hits than innings pitched, doesn’t that sink in? Or a career ERA of around 4.60. So quite frankly, you’re dead wrong about Garland. I believe he may be a FA after this season, meaning he’s another pitcher who is just happening to have a career year when he can walk.

As for Arroyo, crap shoot that paid off, like the Yankees with Doc Gooden.

The Yankees are not preordained to have a good team every year or always get lucky with players they sign.

Don, I wasn’t blindly stating pitchers that were or were not free agents. I konw Garland was not a FA last year, and I’m well aware of his stats. I was more pointing out the fact that (Garland aside, he’s just an example) if given a little time, he has become a great pitcher now, and I wonder why his ability was never noticed. I also know that Buck was not in charge of builing the old team from a front office standpoint, but I do think he had just as much to say then as he does now in Texas. If you watched the interview with Buck on Cold Pizza (sorry for the bunk source), he said that he tries to be heavily involved with the moves the Rangers make, and thinks it’s essential that the coach see and approve of the type of player signed. But since we are comparing either signing pitchers with mediocre lifetime stats – Garland is definitely no worse off than Pavano. Pavano was a mediocre (at best) lifetime guy, with a record of one game (i think) over .500. Is this the guy you sign to 11mill/ann , or was he a signing in haste to make sure someone else (Boston) did not get him? Why was he offered exactly 1mill more than Boston offerd him? Over the past five years, there has been a ton of good aces on the market, and most available for less than ANYONE we have signed, but the older, bigger name has always been the attraction. This is what I don’t understand. Why was there no move made for those guys? I just happen to think the way this team has gone about the business getting good, young talent is at best bad. Thats all I’m saying Don.
The fact that you think Cash is only front man for Stein and Tampa only solidifies my argument to get rid of him! Get a real GM! The Yankees will not survive with the decisions being made by one over-zealous old man so dedicated to winning that he loses sight of the big picture. Being so in love with the likes of Jason Giambi so much that not one single other team was in the bidding for him due to amount of money offerd is the immediate time a decent GM would come in handy! A true GM would have waited for a market to establish and then make offers – the same could be said for Sheff. Oh well, Hindsight is 20/20, and now we have to live with them, good or bad.